FIFA 15: Lionel Messi Announced for Cover of New Video Game

Lionel Messi might have lost the 2014 World Cup, but being on the cover of one of the most popular sports video game franchises in the world is comparable, right? The Argentine star was announced as the FIFA 15 cover athlete on Monday, per the game's official Twitter account:

As usual, EA Sports will have different covers for a few different regions across the globe, but Messi will feature prominently on every separate edition. According to IGN's Evan Campbell, this is the third year in a row in the FIFA series in which the Barcelona attacker has earned the honor. Messi was also on the cover of FIFA Street.

The FIFA series has generally been hailed by fans year in and year out as one of the best sports games on the market, so it's of course appropriate that the cover boy is one of the best players in the world. Having Messi on the cover is essentially a statement from the game's developers that they believe nobody can touch their product.

Some of the new features for this year's edition include "Emotional Intelligence," which means players will be reacting to in-match events in real time, and "Living Pitch," which will show pitch degradation and grass/mud stains on player's uniforms.